“Children with special needs often require more scaffolding than other children to develop the critical capacities" involved in regulatory processes. "However, the methods of scaffolding are not necessarily very different from those used to support children who are developing typically. In other words, the basic principles of scaffolding theory apply just as much to a child with special needs as they do to any other child, but the scaffolding may need to be more carefully crafted and adjusted to address the additional challenges involved” (Shanker, p. 122).
"Scaffolding consists of assistance provided by a more expert person for the performance of a particular task, resulting in the learner’s internalization of ways of conceptualizing and acting." In order for scaffolding to be effective, support must be given when a student struggles and then withdrawn when the student begins to show signs of doing the work successfully. The teacher must be responsive to what the student is doing throughout the scaffolding process (Gibson, 2011, p. 5).
The guiding question for scaffolding learning for students with neurobiological differences should be how to manipulate the environment or conditions to motivate the student to want to engage in the activity (Shanker, 2012, p. 125). It is important to start with the biological domain because students with neurobiological differences can often have challenges in this domain which may result in increased anxiety and/or a reduced ability to respond to one's environment. The impact of physiological disregulation is outlined in this sequence:
"physiological disregulation > reduced capacity to respond to environment or people > reduced social input > decreased activation of specialized brain systems > constrained capacity to engage in social interactions" (Shanker, 2012, p. 125).
Therefore, the scaffolding process for learning must begin with ensuring the student is in a physiologically regulated state. We may have to "reduce the demands on their sensory system, strengthen their motor control with carefully structured exercises designed by an occupational therapist, satisfy their needs for certain types of sensory stimulation while helping them avoid other types, and carefully time the presentation of stimuli to meet the child's processing limitations" (Shanker, 2012, p. 126). By appropriately managing the environment, helping students learn the skills to regulate and repeated, supported exposure to learning and social experiences at a pace that is manageable for students, the student will engage in the learning process and begin to respond to patterns to create personal meaning. During this process, supports such as cueing, visual reminders, questioning are used to scaffold to the student towards increased independence.
Declarative knowledge involves "the recollection and expression of information we have been exposed to" (Bellini, 2006, p. 19) while procedural knowledge "involves knowing how to do something, and then doing it" (Bellini, 2006, p. 20). How we scaffold learning related to declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge is different. Scaffolding declarative knowledge involves using and fading reminders and cues with the goal of the student being able to independently know and remember how and when to do a specific task. It is important to be aware of fading prompts during this process so that students do not become prompt dependent. Scaffolding in this case involves moving up or down prompt hierarchies in response to the level of independence a student displays. We challenge the student to become more autonomous in the task by fading higher level prompts and replacing them with lower level ones. On the other hand, a scaffolding technique that may be used in gaining procedural knowledge would be something like backwards chaining.
Learning self-regulation skills, particularly in the social domain, requires procedural learning with the goal being that of achieving automaticity. Students progress from novice to mastery stages in the procedural learning process (Bellini, 2006, pp. 103-04). Being aware of the characteristics of the learner in each of these stages allows us to use the appropriate scaffolds for student learning. Bellini, 2006, outlines the stages and learner characteristics as follows:
"Novice Stage
exerts a great deal of cognitive effort to complete task
vulnerable to distraction
requires assistance to complete task
makes frequent errors
completes task slowly
Intermediate Stage
becomes more independent but still requires a great deal of cognitive effort
may hesitate between steps of the task, as she attempts to recall the procedure
performs tasks inconsistently
makes fewer errors than novice learners; fluency increased
requires instant feedback on task performance
Mastery
completes task independently with little cognitive energy
is able to complete multiple tasks at the same time
does not hesitate between steps of the task
fluency is significantly increased
typically performs errorlessly
able to complete tasks across various settings and persons
adapts performance to environmental demands" (p. 104)
Referencing this sequence can help us as educators decide on proper scaffolds. For example, a student in the novice stage will need repeated exposure to models as well as a high level of cueing through the procedure. At that point we would also be focusing our effort to ensure that the student is physiologically regulated so that he/she can concentrate on learning. As the student moves to the intermediate stage, we would start to fade the cuing by using techniques like backwards chaining. Once the student is in the mastery stage it would be important to ensure that the student is able to complete the task across different settings and persons so we would concentrate our scaffolds on the transfer of the skill they are learning.
"Scaffolding consists of assistance provided by a more expert person for the performance of a particular task, resulting in the learner’s internalization of ways of conceptualizing and acting." In order for scaffolding to be effective, support must be given when a student struggles and then withdrawn when the student begins to show signs of doing the work successfully. The teacher must be responsive to what the student is doing throughout the scaffolding process (Gibson, 2011, p. 5).
The guiding question for scaffolding learning for students with neurobiological differences should be how to manipulate the environment or conditions to motivate the student to want to engage in the activity (Shanker, 2012, p. 125).
It is important to start with the biological domain because students with neurobiological differences can often have challenges in this domain which may result in increased anxiety and/or a reduced ability to respond to one's environment. The impact of physiological disregulation is outlined in this sequence:
"physiological disregulation > reduced capacity to respond to environment or people > reduced social input > decreased activation of specialized brain
systems > constrained capacity to engage in social interactions" (Shanker, 2012, p. 125).
Therefore, the scaffolding process for learning must begin with ensuring the student is in a physiologically regulated state. We may have to "reduce the demands on their sensory system, strengthen their motor control with carefully structured exercises designed by an occupational therapist, satisfy their needs for certain types of sensory stimulation while helping them avoid other types, and carefully time the presentation of stimuli to meet the child's processing limitations" (Shanker, 2012, p. 126). By appropriately managing the environment, helping students learn the skills to regulate and repeated, supported exposure to learning and social experiences at a pace that is manageable for students, the student will engage in the learning process and begin to respond to patterns to create personal meaning. During this process, supports such as cueing, visual reminders, questioning are used to scaffold to the student towards increased independence.
Declarative knowledge involves "the recollection and expression of information we have been exposed to" (Bellini, 2006, p. 19) while procedural knowledge "involves knowing how to do something, and then doing it" (Bellini, 2006, p. 20). How we scaffold learning related to declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge is different. Scaffolding declarative knowledge involves using and fading reminders and cues with the goal of the student being able to independently know and remember how and when to do a specific task. It is important to be aware of fading prompts during this process so that students do not become prompt dependent. Scaffolding in this case involves moving up or down prompt hierarchies in response to the level of independence a student displays. We challenge the student to become more autonomous in the task by fading higher level prompts and replacing them with lower level ones. On the other hand, a
scaffolding technique that may be used in gaining procedural knowledge would be something like backwards chaining.
Learning self-regulation skills, particularly in the social domain, requires procedural learning with the goal being that of achieving automaticity. Students progress from novice to mastery stages in the procedural learning process (Bellini, 2006, pp. 103-04). Being aware of the characteristics of the learner in each of these stages allows us to use the appropriate scaffolds for student learning. Bellini, 2006, outlines the stages and learner characteristics as follows:
"Novice Stage
- exerts a great deal of cognitive effort to complete task
- vulnerable to distraction
- requires assistance to complete task
- makes frequent errors
- completes task slowly
Intermediate Stage- becomes more independent but still requires a great deal of cognitive effort
- may hesitate between steps of the task, as she attempts to recall the procedure
- performs tasks inconsistently
- makes fewer errors than novice learners; fluency increased
- requires instant feedback on task performance
MasteryReferencing this sequence can help us as educators decide on proper scaffolds. For example, a student in the novice stage will need repeated exposure to models as well as a high level of cueing through the procedure. At that point we would also be focusing our effort to ensure that the student is physiologically regulated so that he/she can concentrate on learning. As the student moves to the intermediate stage, we would start to fade the cuing by using techniques like backwards chaining. Once the student is in the mastery stage it would be important to ensure that the student is able to complete the task across different settings and persons so we would concentrate our scaffolds on the transfer of the skill they are learning.